146 COLLAPSE OF TEXAS TOWER NO. 4 



that this had to be braced under water. It was certainly more difficult 

 to do it at sea than it would have been at shore. 



Senator Stennis. Well, your whole concept and design to start 

 with was to avoid making these connections under water ; that is why 

 you had the tower fabricated and connections made before you took 

 it out there, is that not right ? 



Commander Foster. Yes, sir. 



Senator Stexnis. I yield to Senator Saltonstall, and I may ask a 

 few questions later. 



Senator Saltonstall. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



May I ask just a few questions. Commander? It is not clear to me 

 what relation you had to the district public works officer. 



Commander Foster. I was one of his assistants, Senator Salton- 

 stall. 



Senator Saltonstall. Who was the district public works officer? 



Commander Foster. During the time that the tower was towed to 

 the site, upended and installed, it was a Captain J. Plichta, now Ad- 

 miral Plichta, USN, retired. 



Senator Saltonstall. Admiral Plichta ? 



Commander Foster. Plichta, P-1-i-c-h-t-a, sir. 



Senator Saltonstall. Did he at any time go out to this Texas 

 tower ? 



Commander Foster. Yes, he did. 



Senator Saltonstall. On page 3 of your statement you say : 



We military engineers do not get into the contractors operations as such. 

 Consequently I bided my time, because I knew that the district public works 

 officer and a representative of the architect and engineer were en route and 

 expected shortly. 



Does that mean that you were going to leave the decision as to what 

 to do up to the district public works officer ? 



Commander Foster. Not necessarily, sir, but knowing he was com- 

 ing, and as I indicated, we were not pressed for time at the moment 

 as to Avhether this should be taken back or not, I meant to discuss it 

 with him and later did. 



He was delayed, however, in arriving at the tower site. 



Senator Saltonstall. So that you took the responsibility as his 

 assistant in charge of this particular operation ? 



Commander Foster. Yes, sir, but I would like to point out that the 

 decision there, my decision, was not to interfere. 



Counsel put the question as though it was up to me to say we should 

 go back to port or not. I decided to not interfere with the contractor's 

 operations. He was free to do what he wished. 



Senator Saltonstall. Well, the next point is, if you decided not 

 to interfere, you, as the representative of the Navy, accepted this tower 

 in November of 1957 ? 



Commander Foster. Yes, sir. 



Senator Saltonstall. You accepted it for the Government ? 



Commander Foster. Yes, sir. 



Senator Saltonstall. Yet, on page 5 of your testimony, you stated 

 that the tower was not completed until May 1959. What do you mean 

 by that, your repairs ? 



Commander Foster. Well, when we delivered it in 1957, we fully 

 believed that it was ready for delivery. We discovered later, due to 



